


A Christmas To Remember

by Andie_ZIR



Series: A Fenton Now Stark [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Second Generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-25 16:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17125058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andie_ZIR/pseuds/Andie_ZIR
Summary: Unbeta'd third and final chapter.





	1. Christmas Eve Part 1

It was a cold Christmas Eve in Amity Park, Illinois. Most families were inside, as a snow storm raged on outside. Nine-year-old Rylie Sara Fenton sat at the window, looking at the snow-covered front lawn of the manor. Specifically, she was looking at the driveway, waiting for her grandparents.  


The girl had her black hair done up in pigtails, wearing a Christmas dress picked out by her mother. The dress was black at the top with a red and green plaid skirt, and she had white tights on under the dress. She had black Mary Jane’s on and wore burgundy framed glasses that framed her amethyst eyes.  


“They’ll be here, Ry, don’t worry,” her Aunt Jazz had said earlier. Jazz was wearing a black dress with candy canes on it, a red and white striped headband in her red hair.  


“Mommy, I how can I give grandpa Jack his present if he’s not here?” She had asked her mother. “He drives too fast to not be here already.”  


“Your grandpa Jack wouldn’t miss this for the world,” her mother replied. Sam was wearing a black sweater that said _Have Yourself a Creepy Little Christmas_ and dark red pants. Her hair was down for once, which Rylie thought made her look beautiful. “Don’t worry, Rylie.”  


_Where could they be_ ? She asked herself, looking back at the Christmas tree. Her Nana and Papa were there as well, using Christmas as an excuse to come over and connect with her. They didn’t even celebrate, but it was kind of nice to see them trying to make an effort for her.  


Her Nana had tried to get her into some girly dress, but Rylie made a face. Her Nana could never get the texture right for the dresses she bought.  


Papa had tried to cheer her up, too. “Hey it’s okay that Jack’s not here, you can still have fun with Papa right?”  


“No!” Rylie exclaimed. “Grandpa lets me play with the ectoguns!”  


“He what?” Sam asked, poking her head in the room.  


“... For practice when I’m older?” She said sweetly.  


“Your father and I will be talking to grandpa about that later,” the gothic woman sighed, going back into the kitchen.  


Danny went to the door, getting ready to leave. He was wearing a collared shirt with a festive grey sweater over it and jeans. He didn’t look as festive, but Rylie thought it was nice he tried.  


“Daddy, are you gonna go find them?” Rylie asked softly as she walked over to him, looking at her father with worry. It was still snowing pretty hard out.  


“Don’t worry, Ryles,” he said with a small smile, ruffling her hair slightly. “I’m just going out to find Phantom. He’ll be able to find them.”  


“But it’s… It’s still snowing really hard,” she said with a frown. “Are you sure he’ll be able to find them?”  


“Definitely,” Danny said with a nod and a smile. “How about you go get some hot cocoa from your mom, alright?”  


“I… I guess…” Rylie mumbled, walking towards the kitchen before stopping. She heard the front door open and then shut. She paced for a few moments before getting an idea.  


“... I’ll go look for them too,” she mumbled to herself, running to grab her coat and boots. She could look from the ground while Phantom looked from the air! It was perfect!  


Before she could get her coat on, she heard footsteps. It was either her aunt or her mother. “Rylie, what are you doing?” It was her mother. The girl turned around, facing the older woman, trying to give her the best puppy dog pout a nine-year-old could give.  


“I wanna go play in the backyard,” she lied sweetly. “Make snowmen and snowwomen and snow angels for when grandma and grandpa get here.”  


“In the middle of a snowstorm?” Sam asked.  


“... Yes?”  


“No, Rylie, we aren’t doing that,” Sam sighed, taking the girl’s coat. “It’s the middle of a snowstorm. You’ll catch your death out there.”  


“But _mom_ -”  


“ _No,_ Rylie.”  


The girl pouted. “Fine…” She mumbled, looking at the floor. “What can I do instead?” She asked.  


“You could finish the gingerbread house?” Sam offered.  


“No!” Rylie exclaimed rather suddenly. “I can’t finish it until grandma’s here, she’s the only one who can do the icing right!” With that, the girl plopped on the floor, sitting there and pouting.  


“Rylie…” Sam sighed. “They’ll be here, you know that.”  


“I want them here _now_ !” She huffed, face turning red.  


“Rylie, why don’t you go upstairs to your room and cool off for a bit?” Her mother said with a sigh. Rylie was about to argue when she added, “I’ll call you when grandma gets here, alright?”  


Without a word, Rylie got up and stormed off to her room on the second floor of the manor.  


Once in her bedroom, the girl went to her closet and grabbed the thickest sweater she could find. Scribbling a quick note- something about going to go find grandma and grandpa- she put the paper on her bed. Giving her Stitch plush a kiss on the nose, she opened up the window, pulling the screen out.  


“I’ll find them, I promise,” she whispered, putting the screen on the ground. With that, she stepped onto the roof of the sitting room, only to slip on the black ice that was building up on the shingles. With a loud scream that couldn’t be heard over the howling of the wind, she fell face-first into the snow.  


“Owowow…” She mumbled, pushing herself up. Her chest hurt so much, and her wrist ached. She must have landed wrong. The cold snow had gotten into her clothes, making her shiver as the cold air nipped at her exposed skin, but she shrugged it off, for now. She had a mission to do.  
  
With that, she made her way towards what she thought was the city, not even noticing the silver and green RV pull up in the driveway with a familiar ghost not far behind...


	2. Christmas Eve Part 2

Dinner had been going nicely, aside from the glares sent between the parents. Rylie hadn’t come down yet, either to finish the gingerbread house with her grandmother, or to eat in general.   
  


“Rylie, it’s time for dinner!” Danny called from down the stairs. It had been hours since anyone had seen the nine-year-old. It wasn’t uncommon for her to hole herself up in her room. But to be  _ this  _ quiet was unheard of for the autistic. She was usually making some kind of noise- talking to her Stitch plush was quite a common thing to hear throughout the house.   
  


He looked to his wife and frowned. “I’ll go check on her,” he said. “Maybe she just needs some dad jokes to cheer her up.” He tried to smile slightly. Nothing was wrong. Even though his gut was telling him otherwise.   
  


Sam lightly punched his shoulder. “She doesn’t need  _ your  _ puns,” she joked back. “Your puns are horrible.”   
  


With a chuckle, he went up the stairs, going to her room. He knocked on her door. “Ryles?” He asked.   
  


No response.   
  


He put his hand on the door knob. “I’m coming in, Rylie,” he warned, his worry levels rising. She always responded.   
  


Still no response. Was she even in her room? No one had heard her leave...   
  


With that, he opened the door. What was behind it wasn’t something he was ready to see. He had faced countless ghosts wanting to kill him, a ghost king bent on enslaving humanity, and his own murderous future self. But seeing the snow starting to pile up under the open window, the note on her bed…   
  


Rylie being missing was  _ not _ something he was ready for, or expecting.   
  


* * *

  
Rylie had been wandering in the snow for hours. Her limbs, especially her legs, were getting cold and tired. She couldn’t see in the snow, which had just gotten worse as she trudged on. Her chest was hurting even worse than before, and her wrist felt really numb.  
  


Everything was cold.   
  


She was tired.   
  


Why had she come out again?   
  


Where was she, even?   
  


“I want daddy…” She whimpered, sitting down against a tree. “I want mommy… I wanna go home…” She curled up into herself. She couldn’t go on for much longer. She knew that much. This had been a horrible idea!   
  


With a grunt, she got up. She needed to keep moving. She needed to find someone to help her. She couldn’t just stay out here, she needed to be strong, like Phantom.   
  


The girl saw something green and glowing not far from her in the snow. It looked like… The portal grandma and grandpa had in their basement? She walked over to it, getting closer. It was swirling different shades of green and looked kind of… Pretty.   
  


“This… This looks so much like the portal in Grandma and Grandpa’s basement…” She mumbled, rubbing her arms as she tried to keep warm. “So if I go through here, I should be at their house, right? It’s… It’s a shortcut.” With that, she stepped through the portal, not actually knowing what lay on the other side.   
  


Only to step into more snow. It, luckily, wasn’t snow _ ing _ .   
  


Why hadn’t it worked? Unless… It didn’t work the way she was thinking. “Aw man,” she mumbled, shivering some more in an attempt to get warm. “So… Am I just… Stuck somewhere new or…” She looked up at the sky, seeing more glowing green. It looked like… Pictures her dad had shown her of the Ghost Zone. He had been in a few times with her mom, Uncle Tucker, and Phantom.   
  


“I’m… I’m in the Ghost Zone,” she said, violet eyes going wide. “Maybe… Wherever I am… The ghosts are nice? Dad said there were some nice ghosts…”   
  


Deciding standing around wouldn’t do her any good, she started in what she thought would be the best direction- towards some caves. At least, if she didn’t find any ghosts, it would get her out of the snow.   
  


Making it to the caves within about a half hour, she noticed no one was in there. She frowned and sat down on the rocky ground, leaning up against the wall. Maybe getting some rest would help. It wasn’t like she could do anything else.   
  


Without her consent, she found her eyes slowly sliding shut. And she found that… She didn’t really care. She was tired, she was cold, she was hurting… She wanted some sleep.   
  


It didn’t take long for her to be found after that- by a large Yeti ghost with an arm made out of ice. He recognized the girl immediately.   
  


“Rylie?” He asked no one as he picked her up. He was shocked to find her there,  _ alone _ . How had she gotten  _ here  _ of all places?   
  


* * *

  
The Fenton manor had exploded the _minute_ Danny announced that Rylie had gone missing. Jazz had gone to call the police. Pamela and Jeremy, on the other hand, had taken to yelling at Danny while trying to calm down their only daughter.  
  


“It’s your fault she’s gone!” Pamela Manson cried out, pointing at Danny. “You’re  _ just  _ like your parents!”   
  


“If you had been watching her closer, she wouldn’t have had the chance to leave!” Jeremy added, eyes narrowed.   
  


_ How had she managed to slip out so easily?  _ Why  _ did she decide to go out in this storm?  _ The worried and panicked father thought as he tried to console his wife and get her parents to stop yelling at him. “Listen, Jazz is calling the police right now, arguing won’t help find her-” Danny tried.   
  


“She wouldn’t be  _ lost  _ if it wasn’t for your lackluster parenting!”   
  


“It’s not our  _ son’s _ fault Rylie went off on her own,” Maddie interjected. “She was worried for us and decided to go out on her own. If anything, that makes it our fault.”   
  


It looked like the Manson parents were about to actually agree to that when Jazz walked back in the room, still on her cellphone. She was probably pleading with whoever picked up her call to find her niece, the blizzard be damned.   
  


“Mom…” Danny sighed. “We can play the blame game  _ later _ ,” he said, trying to keep his cool, trying to keep his eyes from glowing. His  _ little girl _ , his  _ baby,  _ was out there in that storm, freezing, and he couldn’t do anything about it if they kept yelling at him. “Right now, finding Rylie is all that matters.”   
  


Suddenly, Sam spoke up, her voice wavering a bit. She looked like she had an idea, though. “Danny, can I talk with you for a second?” She asked.   
  


Danny nodded, leading his wife to another room before closing the door. “What is it?” He asked, looking extremely worried.   
  


“Phantom should go looking for her,” she said suddenly. “You know he’s the only one who could possibly find her.”   
  


Danny frowned and nodded. It would be hard with this storm, but he had to make it work. “You need to figure out an excuse as to why I’m gone, then,” he said. “For your parents, I mean, because I’m not going to get yelled at later for ignoring the search when I’m actually the only one able to brave the weather to go and look for her.”   
  


Sam nodded, hugging her husband tightly. He felt his shirt get a little wet. She was… Crying? It just showed how worried she was. “Go find her…” She said softly.   
  


With that, Danny transformed and took off into the storm, going towards the woods that lay behind the manor.


	3. Christmas Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta'd third and final chapter.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._  


What was that?  


_Beep. Beep. Beep._  


That was annoying.  


Rylie scrunched her face and opened her eyes. A blinding white light filled her vision. “Ow, that hurts my eyes,” she mumbled, trying to rub her eyes. She noticed she couldn’t, however. She was wrapped in a lot of warm… Blankets?  


“Where… Where am I?” She asked softly.  


“You’re in the Far Frozen, young Rylie,” a warm, male voice said to her.  


“Who are you?” She asked, looking into the eyes of the ghost. “And how do you know my name?”  


The ghost laughed. “I am Frostbite, leader of the Far Frozen. And I know your name because we met once, long ago. Your father brought you here.”  


“My… Dad?” She asked, looking confused. “How does he know you?”  


“He saved my life once!” Frostbite exclaimed. “And he saved the Ghost Zone from Pariah Dark’s reign. He is the Great One, after all.” The ghost paused for a moment. “Have you unlocked your ice core yet?”  


“Ice core?” She asked.  


“Like your father. You _are_ half ghost, are you not?”  


“... My dad. Is half _ghost_ ?” She asked, eyes wide. “How? Grandma says it’s not possible.”  


If Frostbite could have, he would have paled. He just unintentionally outed the Great One to his daughter.  


* * *

  
They had been searching all night yesterday and all day today. His parents were searching the city, the Manson’s were getting a search party together, and he and Sam were scouring the forest. They couldn’t find _anything_ that said where she had gone off to, aside from a hole in the snow right below her bedroom window. The snow covered up her footprints, though, which made searching difficult.  


Danny had a duplicate out, searching the skies, while he stayed with Sam, in his human form, both of them calling out for their missing daughter.  


“Rylie!” Danny called out, trying to be heard over the winds.  


“Rylie!” Sam repeated, shielding her eyes from the harsh wind that blew snow into her face.  


“How far could she have gotten in this weather, Sam?” Danny asked his wife, worried. It was too cold for a human to be out here with only a sweater, which is all they could find that she took.  


“I don’t know, Danny… She could have gone anywhere… She’s had who knows how long to wander around in this storm.” She was worried as well, and the worry grew with each passing moment that they couldn’t find their daughter.  


Suddenly, Danny’s watch started buzzing. A ghost had gone through the portal. He quickly made another duplicate, thinking it was one of his enemies. “Let's keep looking…”  


* * *

  
Frostbite carried Rylie through the Fenton manor ghost portal, setting off alarms that quickly alerted Danny, who appeared as Phantom.  


“Frostbite, you- You found her!” He exclaimed, looking relieved for a moment. Then he realized this was _Rylie_ and she _didn’t_ know his secret.  


“Hi daddy,” she said softly.  


“I- I’m not your father, little girl,” Danny said in a 'heroic' voice, his body tensing. She couldn’t know. How did she know?

  
“ _Dad_ ,” Rylie groaned. “Frostbite accidentally told me.”  


“You _what_ ?” Danny said, looking at his closest ally with shock.  


“Well, I thought she was half ghost like you, Oh Great One,” Frostbite said, putting Rylie down. “It was the only explanation to how she survived with such a low core body temperature.”  


“But no _p_ e,” Rylie said, popping the p. “I’m just a human. And _you’re_ Danny Phantom, that’s so cool!” She tried to hang from his arm, looking at him with wide eyes.  


“It- It is?” Danny asked, blinking at her. That was not the first reaction he was expecting from her.  


* * *

  
Back with Danny and Sam, the original Danny suddenly appeared relieved. “Frostbite brought her back, Sam,” Danny said.  


“... She was in the _ghost zone_ ?” Sam asked, looking flabbergasted. “How did she get _there_ ?”  


“I don’t know, Sam, he’s telling my duplicate now, but… She knows. About me. He accidentally told her.”  


“Let’s just get home for now,” Sam sighed.


End file.
